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Breakthrough as two arrested over EFTPOS skimming fraud

Joseph Sapienza

A man arrested by police over the EFTPOS skimming scam arrives back in Perth last night. Photo: Channel Ten

Two men have been arrested by police in Sydney in connection with the McDonald's EFTPOS skimming scam that has so far raided West Australian bank accounts of more than $5 million.

The WA Police major fraud squad said the breakthrough in the investigation was achieved through cooperation with national and international law enforcement agencies.

Both men have been charged with conspiracy to defraud over the scam, which targeted EFTPOS machines at WA McDonald's restaurants in October.

The major EFTPOS scam targeted McDonald's patrons.

Police claim the men formed part of an international organised crime syndicate responsible for a range of skimming crimes targeting West Australians. Once accounts were skimmed, money was withdrawn in NSW, Victoria, Canada, the UK, USA, India and Malaysia.

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A 36-year-old British citizen who lives in the UK was arrested in Sydney on Monday and appeared in Parramatta Local Court yesterday, where Perth detectives successfully applied for him to be extradited to WA. He will appear in Perth Magistrates Court today after arriving in Perth last night.

A 31-year-old Canadian citizen who lives in Canada was also arrested in Sydney. He will appear in Parramatta court today where police will also seek his extradition to Perth. He is likely to arrive on Thursday.

Officer-in-charge of the major fraud squad, Detective Senior Sergeant Don Heise, said the skimming occurred through September after the pin pads at the drive-thru counters of more than 20 McDonald's restaurants in the Perth metropolitan area were replaced with compromised machines.

The bogus keypad would then transmit the card's information to a nearby mobile or laptop via Bluetooth technology.

The accounts of 4000 victims have been hacked into after the first withdrawal took place on October 5, with one suffering a loss of about $6000 to $7000.

Although the withdrawal of money has dried up since October, some amounts were still being taken out of ATMs around the world, but not a single cent has been taken out at a Perth machine.

"We know these two were involved with people doing the withdrawals," Detective Heise said. "There are other people involved (in this scam) as well."

"This is the largest skimming event that has occurred in Australia at this time."

Detective Heise said the two men could face other charges - including stealing and fraud which carried greater penalties - once they arrived in WA.

The conspiracy to defraud offences carried maximum jail terms of three and a half years, he said.

Detective Heise said it was inevitable that a scam of this magnitude was going to hit Perth.

"It (was) always going to happen - it happens around the world," he said.

"(It was a case of) just when and how professional they would be about it."

Unlike ATM skimming devices that were easy to locate, police said it was difficult to determine if keypads on the targeted machines had been tampered with.

"The shops can't see it and the customers can't see it so that exposed us much more than we had expected," Detective Heise said.

The McDonald's scam scooped more than $5 million from Perth bank accounts. But all of the money was withdrawn either in NSW and Victoria or offshore in Canada, the United Kingdom, India and Malaysia using fake bank cards.

"That's the issue that we've got," Detective Heise said. "The offenders are not here, the monies have been taken out at ATMs in the eastern states and overseas (and none in Perth), which causes jurisdictional issues as well for us."

Detective Heise said the McDonald's skimming scam was the biggest he had ever seen or investigated in terms of its sophistication, and was thankful the WA Government was planning to introduce anti-skimming and identity crime legislation that would see criminals jailed for five years.

He also warned the threat of becoming a victim of card skimming was "very much alive" during the Christmas period when people would be taking out more money than normal.

"Everywhere, people still have to skim their card, which means the next lot (of skimming) could be around the corner, next week or over Christmas."

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15 Dec
The threat of identity theft similar to the McDonald's card skimming saga that has so far swiped $5 million from WA bank accounts "is very much alive" and could hit shoppers again as early as this Christmas, the major fraud squad's most senior officer has warned.